TJT National Cricket League opening day results (August 7) from G. Ross Lord Park, Toronto

• TJT Gladiators 140-9 (20 overs) beat TJT Chiefs 118 (19.1 overs) by 22 runs
• TJT Titans 150 (20 overs) beat TJT Royals 105 (18.5 overs) by 45 runs.

The Titans clinched the first win of the new TJT National Cricket League with a 45 run win against the Royals. The Gladiators followed with a win over the Chiefs by 22 runs as the competition opened on Friday August 7 at Toronto�s G. Ross Lord Park. A reasonable crowd, including players from the other two teams, some regular cricket followers and some girlfriends and wives turned out for these openers.

Gladiators-Chiefs

The Gladiators-Chiefs encounter saw the first and second overall picks in the league draft in opposition. Top draft pick, Hiral Patel, opening bat and captain for the Chiefs, made 25 runs, which was more than Rizwan Cheema�s 10. But Cheema was the captain who went away with the victory and left a determined message that the Gladiators were looking to win the TJT NCL.

Cheema won the toss and elected to bat. The top six batsmen each made double figures, ranging from opener Cheema�s 10 to number five bat Abubaker Kalair�s 20. This enabled the Gladiators to reach 140 for 9 wickets when the 20 over limit had been reached. Riaz Khan Pathan took 4 wickets for 27 runs from his four overs.

Hiral Patel made 25 and Abdool Samad 18 for the Chiefs. Usman Limbada played the main innings of the match. His 44 included four sixes, two struck over deep mid-wicket in the same over, but runs from the last seven Chiefs batsmen were a rarity on the day. Mohammed Shaikh took 3 wickets for 27 in 4 overs and the Chiefs stumbled to 118 all out and a 22 run loss at the beginning of the 20th over.

Titans-Royals

Ruvindu Gunasekera provided the base for the Titans innings of 150 from 20 overs. The left-handed opening bat made 32 before being fifth out at 97. The fifth wicket stand with Trevin Bastiampillai had seen 54 runs added. Bastiampillai made a bright 34, before falling with the score on 129. Numan Aslan chipped in with a breezy 32. Three Royals bowlers each took 2 wickets; Junaid Siddiqui (2-18), Harvir Baidwan (2-22) and Udhara Varna (2-32).

The Royals innings never really got going. Captain Rustam Bhatti tried hard, posting 39 runs batting third, with the next best score being Harvir Baidwan�s 21, batting eighth. Number ten, Harjot Sidhu who made 11, was just the third Royals player to reach double-figures in a total of 105 all out. Anderson Bryce mopped up the end of the Royals innings with 3 wickets for 28 from 3.5 overs.

Schedule includes Thursday play

The schedule released by the TJT NCL includes play on three Thursday evenings, in a bid to complete the competition earlier than the original October 7th. The longer daylight hours of the summer are progressively replaced by earlier darkness as the fall (autumn) closes in. The round-robin phase of the competition is now due to complete on September 11, followed by the top four meeting in semi-final action with the winners meeting in the TJT NCL Championship Final.

Next Thursday (Aug 13 at 5pm) sees the Warriors, lead by Kenneth Wong, enter the fray with a match against the Chiefs, and on Friday the Kings, spearheaded by Ugandan all-rounder Kenneth Kamyuka, take on the Royals. The Titans and Gladiators also meet next Friday.

Clearly, for next year, the expectation would be for the competition to operate during the prime days of the summer. But, the show is up and running for this year.